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Grenade Fuse-Pull worn on Boots

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    #16
    Originally posted by Jos Le Conté View Post
    Not every pilot wore them, never seen it with bomber crew, apparently they had no trouble with their zippers ..

    Jos.

    And today You will find the mentioned rings on the boots of the jet crews, but rarely on those of transporter crews ...

    Luftwaffe bomber crews in WWII stuck much more to regulations as fighter crews, look at the other stuff fighter pilots wear and compare it to pics with bombers crews. There is one story of an air base with a fighter squadron coming under bomber crew command as the arriving bomber squadron had a superior officer ... they started to tell the fighter guys not to come in the officer's mess with their flight gear or non-regulation clothing ... in the end the story escalated the way that both parties stand in front of each other with loaded guns.

    But blinky is right: When You need a helping device why not take such a sharp looking thing like a grenade fuze string? One starts, the next one likes it ... it has much to do with fashion.

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      #17
      OK, thanks for the replies guys.
      I suspect that BOTH explanations are good, as often in life.

      JL

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        #18
        ( mambo )

        i think the real question here is what were luftwaffe pilots doing with grenades with 1 second fuses?

        1 sec. grenades were for booby traps

        to be told i am wrong and "most of the time these were worn at the zipper of the jacket by certain persons ..
        It's kinda token to show how lethal these guy's were" i find slightly patronising

        ????

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          #19
          ...this one has been shown already elsewhere, both leather tab and fuse pull present on an issued flight jacket. Private purchase motorcycle-style jackets sometimes did not have tabs attached to the zip pull, so an extra attachment was useful.....but why grenade fuses??,

          The von Werra photos is interesting, two pull fuses would be excessive for merely helping the opening of the zip, backing up the 'trophy' purpose for these fuse pulls, especially considering the kind of character von Werra was. I think when on the boots though, it was purely functional.
          Attached Files

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            #20
            Hello, excellent pics. I want a few of those. Problem is you have to buy the whole grenade. Here are two pics I have. I think they wore them because it looked so cool. You just can't beat their elite look. Bill
            Attached Files

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              #21
              a thought......perhaps these were not grenade fuse-pulls, but from smoke flare markers, more readily available to pilots (available in red). The allies had a 'lucky bastards' and 'catarpillar' clubs for aircrew that were shot down/bailed out but made it back. They had unofficial pins given to them. Maybe the lufty pilots had a simialr tradition with these fuse-pulls??

              Comment

                #22
                nice thinking Harry

                at least it makes sence unlike the 1sec grenade fuse theory

                Comment

                  #23
                  To end the quiz, I just called my WWII Luftwaffe fighter pilot next door and talked to then Feldwebel Fritz Koal of II./JG 27, a Bf 109 pilot with six aerial victories, living here in my vicinity and being a friend for decades now (I went to school together with his son in the 70s).

                  It was just a quirk, he said ("Nur eine Marotte ...",) a lot of fighter pilots liked it but he never used such a fuse on his jacket or boots. Like some special key ring which one have and the next one see it and must have it also. The only deeper sense was that it must come from a grenade pulled and thrown by oneself. And that goes back to ground combat training days of fresh Luftwaffe personnell where they had to bring back all the fuses of the grenades used from the training field. One time he had lost one fuse and had to go back to search for it. He was not allowed to return to the barracks until he found it, Fritz said.

                  With the easy-unzip-theory I was wrong, he told me also. Unlike our tight flight boots of today, where we used the key rings as helpers, the flight boots of WWII were much wider and actually get lost often on bail-outs despite the zippers were closed. That was the reason why the legs of the trousers often were put over the boots, so the boots got secured by the trousers.

                  New for me, I always wondered why on later war pics pilots have their trouser legs over the boots, while putting them into the boots looked so much sharper ... it had a good reason, You see.

                  Always better to ask someone who knows than guessing around ...


                  That's Fritz:

                  Comment

                    #24
                    nice work!

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                      #25
                      "It was just a quirk, he said ("Nur eine Marotte ...",) a lot of fighter pilots liked it but he never used such a fuse on his jacket or boots. Like some special key ring which one have and the next one see it and must have it also. The only deeper sense was that it must come from a grenade pulled and thrown by oneself. And that goes back to ground combat training days of fresh Luftwaffe personnell where they had to bring back all the fuses of the grenades used from the training field. One time he had lost one fuse and had to go back to search for it. He was not allowed to return to the barracks until he found it, Fritz said."

                      This is really interesting. What exactly is a quirk?
                      And why did they have to bring back all their grenade fuses? Maybe that is why I still have never found one during my digging

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                        #26
                        Marotte = quirk, fad, foible, whim, says my translation program. In French it should be marotte also ...

                        When You bring back as much fuses as You had grenades for the exercise, it is sure that You used all and don't bring back one and hide it ...

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                          #27
                          "When You bring back as much fuses as You had grenades for the exercise, it is sure that You used all and don't bring back one and hide it ... "

                          Yes, very logical.
                          But I dont fully understand any of the meanings of quirck in either english french or german!

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                            #28
                            Originally posted by Jean-Loup View Post
                            But I dont fully understand any of the meanings of quirck in either english french or german!


                            The word quirk is used to describe an odd habit

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                              #29
                              Fuse

                              Great information there Steve. There's nothing like first-hand information. Sadly it is something we will not have anymore in about 10 years.

                              I am just so jealous of you guys who can just pick up the phone or go visit these veterans. I have that ability with American vets here, but I wish I could find a couple German guys.

                              Comment

                                #30
                                Originally posted by WWIIBuff View Post
                                Great information there Steve. There's nothing like first-hand information. Sadly it is something we will not have anymore in about 10 years.

                                I am just so jealous of you guys who can just pick up the phone or go visit these veterans. I have that ability with American vets here, but I wish I could find a couple German guys.
                                Same here. I'll just have to enjoy my time with my American vet friends!

                                -Bryant

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